Despite the media hype before hand, there weren't any fireworks on the pitch or off the pitch at Villa Park on Sunday. Rafa and O'Neil, the mortal enemies since their Gareth Barry tug of love, managed to shake hands without stabbing or head butting each other. The game itself was without major incident too. Both defences were on top and once Torres came off we looked a lot more toothless. On the plus side, our full backs Dossena and Arbleoa did well in keeping the pacy Villa attackers Young and Agbonlahor quiet. Keane did well enough and linked well with N'Gog and the team. He could and should have done better when he was put through on Friedal. He waited slightly too long before taking his shot which gave Reo Coker time to get back and tackle him. On another day he would have gotten a peno for it. I think that his confidence is lacking somewhat and once he gets a goal or two he'll be putting chances like that away again without thinking too much about it.
This is really bad news. Given Torres hamstring and Gerrard's groin, I think we're going to struggle badly against Utd at Anfield. I would be very surprised if either of them are fit in time for the game.
The Mirror provide some trial by youtube evidence on Albert Riera. He flew to Merseyside on Friday for a medical and it was tied up today before the transfer window deadline hopefully. Given that Parry is in charge of negotiations, I was a bit worried that there might be a last minute hitch. A lightly less high profile is 18 year old brazilian striker Vitor Flora who has signed from Botafogo. Cue many margarine puns. I wouldn't stoop that low (low) on red in Dublin.
As expected while there were arivals, there were also departures. High fiving Riera and Flora in John Lennon airport were Steve Finan and Andre Voronin. Finnan leaves for the sunny catalan climes of Barcelona as he's signed a 2 year deal with Espanyol. I hope he enjoys a beautiful city and does well for it's second club. I really like Finnan and he gave us great service over the past few years. But he fell down the pecking order towards the end of last season and was told he could leave this summer. Most reds will be happy to hear that Voronin is off to Hertha Berlin on a season long loan. Despite a few stunning goals in pre season this year and last, he wasn't of the level required for LFC.
The stadium news was as disappointing as it was predictable. If the banks won't give these fools anymore money then surely their game is up? If they can't borrow to build the stadium, and don't have the cash to fund it either, then their project is dead in the water. They have no chance of getting the £1billion Hicks wants without a complete stadium. I hope this all hastens their departure and the arrival of DIC and the Sheikh.

Only 6 points from a possible 6? Rafa out. That is entirely unacceptable for a club the size of Liverpool. I blame Rafa's rotation and zonal marking. If it wasn't for his bizarre policies then we'd be higher up the table, eh? Oh. Nice one Rafa, I take it all back.
All Joking aside, that was close. Listening to the match on the radio, I feared it was going to be another case of what might have been. When Boro went in front, I expected a draw. When Jamie leveled, I was relieved but didn't think we'd have enough time to nab a winner. How wrong I was. I'm sure that Lawro, in his lancastrian accent, would have said "'ey, 'ang on a minute, we can win this". I should have known that we had an ace in the hole. Stevie decided that one point wasn't enough. The only result he'd settle for was a win. What a man? When the chips are down and somebody needs to step up, invariably he does.
Mike (Manc) Reily is a right wanker, and didn't help the situation at all today. Winning ugly was something distinctly lacking in our armoury last year. We drew 13 matches last year, the joint highest in the top 10. What we needed was to convert some of those 1 points into 3, especially when not playing well. That's what appears different so far this year. A new string to our bow? I know it's early days, too early to be making sweeping statements, but we could have easily drawn that and dropped two points and Sunderland could have been the same. We didn't offer up champagne football but we got the result which I'll take for now. If we keep winning, the performances will come, especially when Mascherano returns.

Between Stevie, Fernando and hopefully Babel and Keane, we have a number of match winners in the side. The first two have won matches so far this season. I expect Babel to be eased in after his sub appearance today and start some matches soon. Keane still looks like he's getting used to us and us to him. Patience is called for and should be given unreservedly. He's proven that he's a quality premiership player over many years. Anybody questioning him is being ridiculously knee-jerk about it. Give him time and hell deliver.
Aurelio did very well when he came on today. Good sub by Rafa. Dossena is settling and improving but I expect there to be healthy competition from Aurelio as long as Aurelio stays fit. Otherwise Insua should be knocking on the door. Right back seems to be Arbeloa's for now with Degan struggling for fitness and Steve Finnan in limbo. Funny that. I thought the Catholic church had decommissioned it a few years ago. I'll be sad to see Finnan go but I fear it's very likely to happen at this stage. Villa and West Ham have been linked.
Liege on Wednesday won't be a walkover but we should be able to handle them at Anfield. They can't be as good as they were at home and we can't be as bad as we were in Belgium. Fingers crossed.
Tony Barrett says that Riera is back on the agenda now that Barry move looks dead in the water. But Sky also suggest that Everton might sneak in ahead of us with a £12m bid for Riera. Balague, being an Espanyol fan, has seen a lot of Riera and rates him highly.He does suggest that he's the type of player who needs an arm around his shoulder so maybe his confidence is a bit fragile. I don't know if that's the kind of player who'd thrive under Rafa who can be stand offish. Barrett also says that Rafa never really considered resigning.
Hughie McAuley is excited by the capture of a young keeper called Deale Chamberlin. He used to play for Villa but has now seen the light.
It sounds like our Danish community could be on rise. To add to Danny Agger (snakes on a dane) and the boy Savic, we've targeted a young midfielder called Mathias Jorgensen.
Riise had some glowing comments about Liverpool ahead of the Norway v Ireland friendly this week. I reckon he's a fan for life which is good to hear. I think that he's a decent chap but just wasn't good enough for us anymore. Despite his faults, many faults, he had some great games for us and played important role in many of the trophies we've won. But it was time for us and him to move on.
Montse speaks. She sounds like a lovely woman. I'd say she has it tough putting up with Rafa's football obsession. It's great to hear a bit more from the man himself about his life and ideas.
Some talk online is linking us to the newest of new Zidanes. Sofiane Feghouli is an 18 year old attacking midfielder and has been lighting it up with Grenoble. Another french kid being linked is Darnel Situ-Buyence at Lens. We'll have to fight off Utd and Portsmouth to land the 17 year old.
Rick and Rafa have kissed and made up according to Tony Barrett. Hopefully that's the end of matters of the pitch for now, but somehow I doubt it. Barrett also tells us that Rafa turned down a £2.5m bid from Stoke for Sami. He's a bit of a legend so I'd like him to get his testimonial.

What odds on Tuesday night being another 1-1 to complete the hat trick of score draw score lines? This one started slowly. We played well enough in the first half and created some good chances. Crouch made a few for himself and others before putting away just before half time. We had to soak up some pressure in the second half but Bendtner was able to rise above the defence and head home from a free just before the hour mark. Pennant had stupidly given away a needless free and was subbed soon after. I think that he's been fairly poor this year and I wouldn't be surprised or sad to see him leave in the summer. Finnan came back in defence and did well as did Arbeloa on the other side.

Rafa's got to be the happier manager after that. He made 8 changes beforehand, with only Pepe, Carra and Skrtel surviving the cull and we still managed to get a draw away from home. Wenger made less changes so won't have as fresh a team on Tuesday night. Some of the players, like Fabregas looked tired both midweek and in this match. This should help us on Tue, especially were it to go to extra time. Wenger didn't look happy at all on the sidelines.At one point, it looked like he was so frustrated that his head might explode. I hope it's the same situation at Anfield.

Rafa and I agree that it was an impressive debut from the boy Plessis. The Guardian match report gave him the mana of the match award. Maybe Plessis is why Rafa was willing to let Momo leave at Christmas.

Souness was full of praise for Crouch after the match. Eamonn Dunphy interviewed Souness on his RTE Radio 1 programme last week. I have more time for him after hearing it.

In our defensive foursome, he's absolutely awesome. Sami signed a new deal this week which is good news. I think that his displays this season have merited his one year extension. At times he was our best defender despite his advancing years. I hope that he joins the coaching staff when he hangs up his boots. He has a lot of knowledge that he could pass onto the kids. Red legend.

David Fairclough was on Today FM radio here in Ireland confirming what I'd heard before about the Mascherano deal. He said that the £17m transfer fee quoted is a red herring as deal includes wages over the duration of the contract. This tallies with info I've read on forums. Good news.

This report says that Arsenal and us are battling it out again but the target this time is Ricardo Quaresma of Porto. He may be available to £5m if they are convicted of match fixing. Could be what we need for the right sided attacking role.

Various papers are saying that we have a deal agreed to buy Rafinha from Shalke for £6m. I think that this has a good chance of going through. He looked good form what little I saw of the barca champions league match last week.